Announcing Bucks Of America Podcast With Jeff Vance

Laws are put in place to ensure equality and fairness, amongst other things, in whatever industry you may be. Familiarizing yourself with the different hunting laws during different seasons and in different states can improve the totality of your hunting experience. Creator of Bucks of America Podcast, Jeff Vance raises awareness on the possible repercussions of getting caught hunting using illegal methods, not only for yourself but the people around you. He also talks about not only his love for big game, but his passion for introducing his daughter to the amazing world of hunting through small game with his podcast. Check out how he prepares his family for hunting while abiding with the rules and making sure hunting stays enjoyable for everybody.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Announcing Bucks Of America Podcast With Jeff Vance

Welcome to another great episode with my good friend, Jeff Vance from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Jeff is the host of the Bucks of America Podcast. That came online the last time we talked. Let’s talk about the Bucks of America. Tell people how they can listen to it and tell them what you talked about on the show.

My podcast is similar to yours, but I don’t worry about doing that focusing on tips and tricks and how to better the hunt. I talk about everything that strikes my mind that’s going on. I like to talk about family, politics, what’s going on with CWD and bring on special guests that are in the industry. One of my fondest episodes was with Anthony Schmidt. He makes his own springs. I sat down with Curt Headington, who has been on your podcast. He’s a humble guy. We have spent at least an hour at his factory there in Decorah. You can find me on several different platforms. I’m on Stitcher, TuneIn and iTunes, which has been a great thing to do. I’m on SoundCloud as well. I’m on all four platforms, which is a good way to get the word out, but iTunes is the biggest contributor to my listeners. That’s where they can find me. I’m also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. All are out there as well.

How many episodes you have up?

I have ten and I just released one. I’m trying to consistently drop them. Those who follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, I’m a big outdoors guy. Usually, I’m out fishing on the weekends. I’ve been taking advantage of the good weather because summer has been wet for us here in the Midwest dealing with high waters, wind and high heat. Some of the places I’ve been fishing only get to five to eight-feet deep. When they’re that shallow, the water is quite warm. We’ve gone through a ten or fifteen-day session with no rain. It’s been hit or miss. It’s one of the things that we had to get up earlier in the morning to get after it.

I have seen a lot of fish. You’ve caught a lot of slab crappie.

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We have a little honey hole in Iowa that we hit up here. We got up at 5:00 in the morning on the water. By 7:00, we caught 23 crappies that were keepable. We caught over 50, but those are the ones we tossed back. I caught a bluegill, a minnow, but it was too big and too small. We were fishing off about fifteen feet, about one or two feet off the bottom because they’re warm. Once we’re pulling up the crappies, their bodies were so warm. If you don’t get out there early in the morning, you’re just not going to have a good day of fishing. We hit the lake the previous day and we only took home eight fish between the three of us. It was rough. All we did was stroll. It’s all we could do. We had to go about a good 30 yards out from the back of the boat to get that deep and to get after them. We wanted create the attention to get them bite after and everything like that. They are more reactionary bites, not hungry bites. It was one of the things where it’s hit or miss as the day went on.

You’re big walleye fisherman too, aren’t you?

I had a lot of good success this past spring. In the Mississippi, there’s a lot of flexibility that we were fishing at. In late May, we were able to bring in ten walleye over the course of a week and a half or so. We were sitting them on chartreuse, which is chartreuse Glo-Pro Lures, which is perfect. We got down deep, swimbait, and there’s a great reaction to it. We were catching them on about that twelve to fifteen-foot depth right there, but it was still earlier on. The water was still fairly cool before they swam out to deeper waters. It was a fun fight. I came to the conclusion in the summer that my three favorite fish to catch are either perch, crappie or walleye. The way they finesse the bait, you got to be strategic about it.

I was catching with a twenty-inch walleye, which is fantastic. I was using a medium to lightweight action for those. Switching to crappie and perch, I would use super light. Some of them are extremely sensitive. Anybody who is familiar with catching those types of fish, they’re not aggressive like bass. The water tube tugs that are on the third one, you’ll set the hook, otherwise, they’re gone. With them being predator fish, live bait is a way to go. I had some friends that had success using plastics. That’s not me. I’m old school. I like live bait because I know it’s going to work. There’s a guy that has a shop. It’s only a few miles out from the lake. I’m able to hit them first and then hit the lakes. He runs a nice tight-knit shop. I like to support local.

What kind of boat you’re running?

It’s a seventeen-foot Jensen boat. It has 25 horsepower on it. I mostly do all my fishing with my dad. It’s nice to do that. I made a mission to do as much fishing as possible. He’s 66 years old and I’m not sure when I will be able to take advantage of the time he has now. He’s retired. When we go out there, it’s usually a three-day weekend. We talk a week in advance to make sure we’re primed and prepped for the weekend. We’re making determination on what’s going to happen. If it rains, then we scrap the trip. We may postpone it for the following week. It has been my mission to do it. Every time we want to go fishing, it’s always been raining. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get after it. My way of focusing is I’m setting up my cameras. I had a couple of them out there, but I never put the cards back in there. I went without knowledge of what’s going on. I’ve seen quite a bit of deer and fawns out there and a couple of bucks, which is motivating. It’s inspiring to see.

I’m going to hold off my hunting until you arrive because I want to leave my scent as little as possible. With the CWD aspect, what Minnesota’s done now is they changed the area. South of Rochester going towards Caledonia, all the way down to walk on Iowa, down that direction there in southeast Iowa, it’s all CWD management. What they’ve done is that everything has to be reported, which is standard. Each season, you can harvest one buck. If you hunt archery, rifle, shotgun or muzzle, you can harvest one of each. You can still buy the tag but you can use archery for all three seasons. You can’t flip flop the shotgun and the muzzle. Those are designed how they are. They also removed the antler restriction. You had to have a minimum of four points on one side. Now, it’s free for all. You can get a little fork all the way up. I don’t like going after four keys, but for the sake of research because they need samples for everything to figure out. Minnesota’s goal was not to become Wisconsin. That’s what I want to help. I contribute to them. I was given the samples.

My goal is to have a couple that are five or six years old. That’s what I’m shooting for, but I want to give them at least a storyline of my area. This way, they can use that information to lay down the road. I’m hoping that you and I will be able to capitalize on that. What I’ve been able to do in the past is two different things. Before, I used to be able to use lures and attractants like liquids and scent-based. Now, they’re completely all banned. You can’t use salt licks out there. Those are gone too as well because we’re trying to eliminate the spread of CWD. You still use your food plots which is great, but you can’t use lure attractant. You can’t use deer urine. It takes out Cooks Deer attractants, all that fun stuff, you can’t use anymore. I have to be a little more strategic. It’s going back to the old ways, you’re strictly using the camera as a catalog and then playing the wind to our favor. The unique thing is where we’re going to be hunting. We hunt in a valley.

The wind can shift quickly which we found when we were out there. We once thought we’re planning on setting and we ended up finding the wind change constantly back and forth. It’s going to play some roles, but my goal is for us to set further away from the property line from my neighbors because he’s rude. He can be quite mean. I was introducing Alicia to some of the hunter harassment laws. If he does decide to become unruly, then we’ll call the DNR. We’re going to have a conversation because he’s disturbing the hunt. What he did to Alicia and I, we got out and he starts causing a whole bunch of noise, discharging a firearm in our area which was not right and which is just not a way to be it. The reason I think he has his animosity is because a few years ago, I shot a buck and it jumped on his property. We didn’t trespass it because I wait until sunlight the next day. I think that’s where it burns. Every time he sees our vehicle, that’s when he becomes childish.

Jeff hunts across the Mississippi River from La Crosse up in a good area in southeastern Minnesota. Minnesota does not want to become another Wisconsin with big issues with CWD. Let’s continue the discussion with CWD. What are some of the other things the State of Minnesota is doing to reduce the spread of CWD?

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Minerals are no longer available. You can’t use Big&J’s mineral mix. You can’t use any type of deer attractants. You can’t use salt licks. You can’t use minerals. You can’t use any of those attractants. The temptation is still there, but you can’t use it. If you’re caught with it, you’re looking at fines and even losing whatever you have on you. We’ve heard from the gentleman who got in trouble here a few years ago. He shot two bucks and he’s from Peoria, Illinois. I can see his face, but I can’t picture his name. We all find out what happened to him. He got $33,000 of the fines. He lost his hunting privileges for two years. He tanked his entire career. You have to keep in mind that you want to abide by their law which is frustrating because most of those types of things were beneficial. I can’t use a dominant buck scent and I can’t use a doe estrous. It’s all down to the line of sight and be patiently waiting. The nice thing is you can still use calls and such, but you just can’t use the normal tips and tricks. Baiting is completely off the table.

You can still have food plots on your land. Do you have food plots?

I don’t because I have a lot of ag. The farmers are around us. One guy planted corn and the other guy planted soybeans. I have those as resources. Acorn and walnuts have been plentiful as well. The squirrels haven’t been too much of a nuisance, but they’re starting to make a rise but which is a good thing. I’m looking forward to hunting them and introducing my daughter into hunting small game. Unless my whole goal was to find a property, to develop that into something that she can hunt. The great part is that we used to have only a couple of squirrels on there or no squirrels. Now, it’s been growing because the squirrels are hunted. It’s going to be nice to be able to take her out there with a 0.22 and hopefully get her first kill.

How many acres do you hunt?

I am at a funnel of five acres. I have a couple of other properties. One is 1,000 acres. Another identical far side of the same owner is about 200 acres, so about 1,200 acres of land on.

Your favorite is a funnel?

It’s a funnel. I will show you why I like it because it shows you this beautiful open vast area of forest land, but it funnels out. There’s a creek that runs in there. That water is what brings everybody to it. Once it transfers into the neighboring property, it goes underground. Once it goes out of his property, it goes underground as well. It got a small opening to be able to take advantage of it. The nice thing is it’s easy to get to. If you shoot a buck, we all have access to the field so you just simply drive up to it, pull it out or we have him go down with buck and pull it up as well if it’s too big to pull on his own. There’s a lot of flexibility with it, where the other one is a mile walk in and it’s not flat. It’s all rolling hills because it’s a driftless area.

Right where Rochester starts, that’s where when the glaciers came down through the Younger Dryas period, it carved all of the rock formations which now we have is the driftless area. It’s not an easy thing. It’s all up and downhills. I’ve dragged several deer out of the 1,000-acre property. No matter how good and in shape you are, you will end up wounded. Over the years, we’ve added four-wheelers and stuff. I hunt archery. All that equipment is not available until its gun season. I like hunting quietly. There’s a group of six to eight of us. I like setting out there and being there, being in the now.

Your gun season starts early in Wisconsin. Is that correct?

It does. It starts during the rut. The first season opens up November 7th. When you and I are hunting, we don’t have to worry about gun hunters. We don’t worry about wearing orange or anything like that. That is a plus side unless you plan on staying until November 7th, but I know you have a lot of friends here that you’re going to be bouncing from farm to farm.

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I’m going to definitely be hunting a lot of farms because finally, I got my feet underneath me. A couple of years, it was okay and 2017 was not okay. It’s a few years out. I’m looking forward to getting a lot of hunting, spending time and having meetups with people throughout Wisconsin. Me and my audience are looking forward to that. I look forward to spending time with you, Jeff and Alicia. When you think about your strategies, do you hang out on ground blinds and tree stands? What’s your strategy there?

I’m trying to put as little fuzz of impact to the property as possible. I’m going to be sitting on the outside edges on a fence line. This way as the season progresses, their movement changes. What they do instead of riding the fence line in the early season, they’re going to move down in the valley where they have more coverage. They’re going to have some sagebrush. The bigger bucks have a direct path where they come in when they bed and when they feed. I have a camera spread out where they are so this way, I’m hoping to capture them coming in and out of the field. I’ll send you a couple of videos to show you Maverick and Darkman. I have a pair of twins from the buck I shot from 2017 that have these exact same rack pattern, basket rack, which would allow you to identify who they belong to. They have a hook. It goes straight backward. It goes parallel 90 degrees.

I also found that when I checked my cams, my doe that produces twins is still around. I have an older doe. She’s probably now in her later years, about eight years old. It’s nice seeing her continue producing does. When I got on the property in 2015, I always got to see a pair of twins with this one doe. That’s what I like seeing. That’s why I haven’t shot any doe off the property, but with CWD management area, the DNR needs that data so this way they can hopefully formulate something with it. Dr. Bastian from Pennsylvania taken upon himself to tackle CWD because he’s got a five-year aggressive plan where he wants to introduce a field-testing kit so you can test a deer right on the spot. Instead of having to take into a check station or into a kiosk to have it done that way. If you haven’t looked him up, I recommend doing it. His interview is online. He’s got a five or ten-minute video that you can watch of him standing up and giving his presentation. I like where his head’s at. I’m hoping that he gets the money because we need all the help we can get. I’m looking forward to what he unfolds over the next five years of his plan.

Do you ever hunt Wisconsin?

That’s what’s going to happen. A couple of years, Alicia was working weekends. She no longer works weekends. She works for a bank. It’s Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and weekends off. It’s going to open us up to be able to hit some of the public land that I want to hit a couple of years ago. We have two vehicles. Both of us were making more money. I drive an old ’91 Ford F-250 and it’s a diesel. I’m lucky to get 50 miles for the gallon and we only had one car between the two of us. I had to make concessions from getting on the field because we only have one vehicle.

We don’t want to run into the ground. We have to manage our funds too. We’re making more money now. We have a little bit more flexibility. My sister met an awesome guy. He hunts as well, which is fantastic, but he only hunts in Wisconsin because he’s got a swing shift so he could be four days on, five days on type scenario and four days off. Instead of a 70-mile drive, it’s now a fifteen-minute drive. This trims down the distance. When we go out there, we could easily go to her place on Friday, get up early morning on Saturday. Set all day Saturday and Sunday then just take off from there. It’s nice to have that family.

What are your thoughts about picking a partner for the outdoorsman?

I’m finally getting married and I’m going to be 35 this fall. I’m past the whole prime of stage of having a life early on and having kids. I already have one. She’s a blessing to me. It took a long time to find a diamond in the rough. I’ve dated women who like the idea of it, but they don’t have the passion for it. During the whole interview process, a.k.a. dating. I was asking her key questions about how her father brought her up in the outdoors like taking her into a tree stand, ground blind, taking her out fishing. That played a big role in it. The best part is she’s already had a bow in the past. She had a boyfriend just before me which had lost a lot of her equipment and gear. Having me in the picture, she looked like she wanted to get involved again. I got her a bow. The next thing is she wants a new rifle. That’s the next thing on my list. We have goals. We have these ideas in our minds that though we’re going to achieve them. We have a list that we work with and things for outdoors, personal life and future life. It’s great that we have this type of fluidity. That’s what I recommend for anybody.

When you’re in the dating stage, don’t settle on anybody but think about the questions you’re going to ask them and how they judge you. That’s what comes down to it because you’re listening to that person’s point of view if they’re passionate about it or they’re blasé about it. If they have their own equipment and how they have a good relationship with their father. That plays a big role too on what kind of man she wants in her life too as well. Having that good bond with her father is key to having a good successful relationship because you need to have that communication which I got blessed with. There’s no if and buts about it. I got a diamond in the rough. I tell my daughter, “If you know how to skin a deer, the diamonds get bigger.” In her case, with Alicia, she didn’t want a diamond because she’s already been proposed twice in the past. It didn’t work out but she wanted a firearm instead. We went to a gun show and she had to pick. I bought it for her. The worst part was that it sat for months and she couldn’t touch it until I proposed to her. I proposed to her. When we do our next rendezvous, we’ll be able to discuss our success.

I think you were one of my first guests. You were in the first 100 for sure when I launched this. It’s fun to hear your stories and hear how you’ve come along. What are you doing for Bucks of America? Is this a job or you’re volunteering? Talk to me a little bit about Bucks of America.

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Bucks of America has still been growing. We still have the clothing line. We’ve made some trimming. We’ve cut back on some stuff because we got rid of some skewers that were unnecessary that we’re not bringing money. Why put the concept if it’s dead real estate? We still have that going on now. The Bucks of America podcast is something that I’ve always wanted to do. We have the brand recognition and I’ve been working with this brand since I started talking to you. You’ve been with me since this whole thing started. My first interview with you, I was with my own podcast, but I didn’t put the discipline in it to get it going. I found some inspiration for it and I started the whole Bucks of an American thing.

My whole idea was to talk to people all across the country bringing all kinds of awesome bucks. I have friends of mine that are in bigger in the industry than I am. They want to set up a Tucker interview with Stephen Tucker with his beautiful Tennessee buck. Some friends of mine down in Florida are trying to work out ways for me to get an interview with BassPro because I want to encompass all the outdoors. I want to collect a bunch of stories. It’s my overall goal. By doing so, I can get to have adventures. In my bio, I talked about my evolution and the whole thing. Being where I’m at right now in the outdoor industry and being what I’m doing right now, it’s introduced me to all different walks of life and getting to hunt with people efficiently. That’s the whole thing.

I want to collect more and more stories. I’m not necessarily the best writer, but I’m a good talker. I want to be able to collect all these stories. This way, I want to show my little one that you can create your own adventure in a modern world. We have tablets, cell phones and laptops. In the early ’90s, we had dial-up. That whole hierarchy of explorations changed because now you can do more research. Before, you had to pay attention to the news, what’s going on in the newspapers to figure what you want to do to create outlook. My idea for her is to show that you could create anything you want. You have the freedom to do so. It’s developing the discipline to maintain doing it. Motivation will eventually fail on you, but discipline’s where you’ve got it. If you’re able to consistently do something, it’s going to turn into a habit. It’s like, “I got addicted to the outdoors at a young age.”

She’s been addicted to it. She likes fishing and hunting. She has her own bow, tackle box, and fishing gear. She’s fantastic. We went to a charity event in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. It was a wild game feed and she got drawn. They did a specific age group. We bought her a couple of cards. She got drawn for it and she had everything to choose from. There were soccer balls, footballs, frisbees and fishing poles. She picks the airsoft kit, an M4 platform and a pistol. That’s what she picks. I was like, “She wanted a pistol.” That’s what she wanted. It is one of the more expensive gifts. It’s fantastic. Since we’ve had it and when it gets nasty outside or when it’s cold, we just practice her. I’d practice shoot with her. I’m teaching her how to breathe and how to unload it. There was one time we came and we’re cleaning up the room, I found the pistol with the magazine removed.

It’s like, “That’s my kid.” She recognizes the safety at a young age. It’s like, “My pistols.” If they’re not for concealed carry for defense, the magazine is removed and the slides open. On toy guns, you can’t open the slide, but you can at least remove the magazine. Which is good to see that grasping at a young age because she’s only six. We keep reinforcing what I’m teaching because a piece of paper doesn’t stop bad people. That’s the biggest thing as a father with a daughter is that I can’t be there 24/7. All I can do is teach her what things I’ve encountered in my life. I’ve been held up at gunpoint in Phoenix. At least you have some horror stories about an ex. Pulling all this type of experiences together, you need to teach your kids. You’re the one in control of your own security. It’s the bottom line for me.

You are ultimately responsible for yourself and your family. You need to be aware of that fact. Archery season is coming. Let’s talk about your setup. What kind of bow do you shoot, broadheads?

Those who listen to the podcast, I’m a big supporter of Veteran IP. The Veteran Innovative Products make four different types of broadheads. They make a guillotine which is a bit large cross. It’s designed for hunting turkeys and ostriches. I’ve seen some videos of them out in Africa using them on ostriches and it is a successful broadhead. I personally use the Veteran 100 grain, but I have upgraded to the 175 because I want to increase my FOC. I want to get that complete passthrough. This way, instead of having a two-inch wound, I have a sixteen-inch wound. It’s what I’m going for. Alicia shoots an Adam, which is a flexible barbed wire. This way, it impacts the barbs, flex and goes back to normal again and continues passing through.

We’re setting about 550 grains. It should be adequate enough for a whitetail deer. I’m shooting the Elite Impulse 31. It’s 31 axel-to-axel, maneuverable ball, extremely lightweight and accurate. I’ve been having some issues with my left elbow. I had golfer’s elbow for a period of time. I decided to try acupuncture. One treatment and it’s done. When it comes to acupuncture style, I find something that’s educated in it. I’ve been doing it for a long time. It only took twenty minutes and I had months of rehabilitation with it, trying to figure out different ways of doing it. Instead of always constantly adjusting ibuprofen. It messed up my game.

I was completely unconfident if I’m shooting longer than twenty yards. With that fixed, I went to my dealer at La Crosse Archery here and talked to Anthony. I‘m like, “Anthony, I want to go back to my original drawing because I don’t have that pain anymore.” I’m set at 28.75 inches. I’m sitting a 60-pound draw weight. I’ve been slowly increasing. I’ve been using what they call the acuBall. It is made in Peru, Illinois which is roughly four hours from here. My goal is to hopefully set up a podcast for those guys. Their technology and what they’ve been doing with their practice bow, they’ve also attached an app with a two so this way you can practice all year long either doing a target archery or hunts which is a lot of fun. I’ve upgraded my arrow suit. I’ve switched to a Maxima RED which are a lot fantastic.

There’s a difference between a $6 arrow and a $15 arrow. If you buy them individually, it is a big difference in it. I’m getting great penetration when I’m doing target. It’s extremely consistent with it. I rock out an HHA pin. Thank you HHA USA that’s based here out of Wisconsin. That’s fantastic. I have a friend of mine that is on their staff and he’s trying to work out a situation where I can sit down and have an interview with him. Alicia and I both shoot HHA. We do a single pin and I enjoy it. It gets a little hectic where a deer keeps on moving, but when I get it all set and dial it in correctly, I know when I release that arrow, it is going to be a kill shot. I don’t have the buck behind me but it’s the end of the five-year career of this massive big body buck. That’s my bow set up right there. I don’t shoot with my quiver. I leave it off but if you’ll be patient and breathe, things would be all right.

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How would you like to end the show?

To find my podcast, it’s the Bucks of America Podcast. You can find me on Stitcher, iTunes, TuneIn, SoundCloud and Podcast Attic. I got all five there. You can find the Facebook page, Bucks of America podcast, also on Instagram and Twitter as well. Pay attention to my live feeds. I’m going to start increasing my content over the next few months. I’m also going to be doing giveaways with EZ Kut, Veteran Innovative Products, Cooks Deer Scent, along with MV Outdoors. They’re one of my first sponsorships for the podcast which I’m completely humbled by them because they like my message. That’s what I stand for. We’re getting on with that. We’re also getting behind Train to Hunt which is an ongoing event that’s going to be here in Wisconsin, which is going to be the championship, the finals. They do nine events. I got to sit down with the director of Train to Hunt here in Wisconsin, Brian. Colorado is where they’ve been doing all their finals. It is similar to two to three challenges, but it has its own uniqueness. Make sure you take the time in life and you just got to let your beard down.

It’s always great to catch up with Jeff and I can’t wait to spend a couple of days with him and Alicia hunting Minnesota.

About Jeff Vance

When starting out a bio it is a difficult task to start. Does one start in the beginning, middle, or when life got interesting. Not dead yet so I have some wiggle room to work with. I figured I’ll start with when I became addicted to the outdoors.

On Nov 30th, 1994 my 10th birthday, I remember it almost like a dream. My father decided to take me on a road trip; I had no idea where we were going. I was thinking it was nasty outside, raining, high winds, I thought the hunting would be garbage. We hop into his 1976 Yellow Chevrolet and headed North. From my hometown of Osage, Iowa the only places that are north that have a shopping center would be Albert Lea, Austin or Rochester, Minnesota. We ended up in Austin. Pulled into Walmart and we began our wonder on back to the Outdoor section, SWEET. Get there, and dad says, “pick out your bb gun.” Being the nerd that I am, I start digging into the specs of every air rifle they had. I stumble across a Daisy. We all know Daisy, no need to dig into their history. It was a Powerline 1100, pump, with a scope of course. I still have it and will never get rid of it.

Let’s fast forward to 2015. This was the year that launched my life into the change that I needed. I started my interactions via Twitter with the outdoors community. Talking to people, retweeting, and connecting. I got online for the sole purpose to interact with likeminded people and fun people to hunt with. My first ProStaff is with Dead Red Outdoors out of Cody Wyoming, they are the innovators of the Diamond Peep. This was my first step into the Outdoor industry. Nothing like it on the market. The way Toby worded it, like an iron sight, it triggered my masculinity. What I did was promote their product by asking for pictures of it on all kinds of bows and different colors. I suggested to do videos so those interested could see the peep in action. Through my promoting and posts he then sent me a goody bag of information and test products. I have been using Diamond Peeps ever since.

This next part took me to a whole other level. Toby introduced me to Cody Neer. At the time Cody was building Bucks of Nebraska and his brand which is known as Bucks of America. I was able to get in on the ground floor, recruiting Heads of State, ProStaff and picking out clothing. Cody introduced me to the phenomenal VP Anthony New. We worked together on building this brand. Having conversations at all hours. Developing the brand to what it is today. We became something of a family for the Bucks of Family.

Working with these guys has brought all kinds of people into my life. This has opened my life and passion for the outdoors to new levels. Being invited to go hunting and fishing with folks has now become a dream come true. Having a day job slow thing down and puts things into perspective. Now I have FB pages, Instagram’s and multiple twitter accounts that become taxing at times, but I have found a few companies that help me stay in touch and on top of my social following. Getting into the Outdoor Industry is fun, hard, and well worth the investment.

Let us shift gears into my personal life. Being a father is a key point in my life. I do what I do, because I want to provide memories for my daughter. I have pictures of her catching her first bass, blue gill, perch and eventually every other fish that strikes her lure. What makes me happy is that she wants to go fishing and she wants to go shoot her bow. Being patient is half the battle, for both of us, the other half is teaching her correctly. I will always be learning to provide her credible information.

I got lucky with my wife. She loves to hunt and fish. Her father did a great job getting her out in the field and on the water. What helped create a bond between us was asking her about the outdoors in the beginning. Listening to her confidence and paying attention to her passion and love for the outdoors helped me take what we were getting into serious. I knew I wanted someone in my life to share the same passion that I do. Recently, I went on fishing trip with some great guys. Being new to the group I just sat and listened. Listening about how their wives treat them, upset me. Made me appreciate who I have. In my mind she would have had a blast were their wives would be triggered and ruin the fun.

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Announcing Bucks Of America Podcast With Jeff Vance

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Announcing Bucks Of America Podcast With Jeff Vance

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